Improvement in bath-tub attachments



UNITED STATES- PATENT Grrroa.

THOMAS D. WOOLSEY, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALFHIS RIGHT TO WILLIAM H. BAXTER, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN BATH-TUB ATTACHMENTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 159,556, dated February9,1875 application tiled November 2, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS D. WOOLSEY, of the city and county of SanFrancisco, State of California, have invented an Improvement in Bath-TubAttachments, of which the following is a specification:

My invention relates to an improvement in bath-tub attachments, wherebya bather may more readily scrub the back or other portions of the body;the same consisting essentially of an upright frame provided withlever-beam, and connecting-rods for actuating vertically, up and down, aspring brush-carrier within grooved recesses or dovetailed slides, saidframe being so hinged on parallel bent rods as to be made capable ofstanding firmly on the edge of a bath-tub, so that a bather may scrubhis back with a brush attached to this carrier, or the frame may bebrought forward and lowered into the bath-tub whenever the bather shouldprefer a sitting posture for the same purpose.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal elevation of part of a bath-tub withattachment embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a transverse verticalsection of Fig. 1 through the line m m. Fig. 3. is a plan of Fig. 1.Fig. 4 is an enlarged end view of the sliding brush-carrier embodyingpart of my invention.

With reference to the drawings, T represents an ordinary bath-tub,attached to the wall of a building, K K, in the usual manner. In asuitable place against this wall K K, on this bath-tub T, a frame, F F,is hung on bent rods L L, which are pivoted on fixed eyes e e, and areplaced some distance apart, parallel to one another, so that this framewill rest firmly supported by them on the edge a of the bathtub T, andwill also admit of it, with its attachments, being brought forward byswinging on these eyesc c, and being lowered into this bath-tub, asshown in dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 2. This frame F F consists of awooden plank placed in an upright position, to the top of which abracket, B, is fixed for holding a lever-beam, R, pivoted to it at u,and is also provided for about half its height with dovetailedslide-pieces s s, for allowing of a sliding brush-carrier, C, slidingwithin them vertically, up and down, when actuated by a connecting-rod,r, attached it and the lever B, and a pulling-rod, r. The connectingrodr connects the end 0 of the lever-arm R with the tongue f of thebrush-carrier C, and the pulling-rod r is attached to the other end, 19,of this lever, for a bather to take hold of in order to raise or lowerthis carrier C. The brush-carrier C consists of a piece of wood, N,beveled on the edges k k for fitting to the dovetailed slide-pieces s s,and is provided with a tongue-piece, f, at the top, so as to be adjustedto the end of the connecting-rod r by a pin, Z. A curved piece of wood,'6, is hinged by a hinge, a, to this carrier in front, so as to have itslower extremity, h, resting on a spring, t, and thus admit ofconsiderable compression when any force is brought to bear on thisportion of the curved piece 6. To this part h of the pieced a disk, D,with spindle attachment d, is fitted, so that this spindle may enter ahole provided, and be secured in the rear by a nut or button, b, whileat the same time it is made to hold a vulcanized india-rubber ring, 0,placed between this disk D and the front of the curved piece 41, thescrubbing-brush G being adjusted to this disk by being slipped inbetween small bent catches j j thereon, also provided; the object ofthis arrangement of springs being to make use of the spring t foradjusting the brush G to the curves in a bathers body during its upwardand downward movements, andnthe india-rubber spring 0 for all lateralinclinations necessary, so as to fit those curves which the spring twill not completely adapt the brush G to.

I claim as my invention- 1. The brush-carrier C, consisting of thebeveled sliding piece N, curved piece t, hinged thereto by a hinge, a,and resting on the spring t, with the indiarubber spring a, secured bythe brush-holder D d b, in combination with the slide-barss s, or theirequivalents, rods 1 r, and lever B, fitted to the bracket B of theupright frame F F, substantially as and for the purposes herein setforth and specified.

2. The india-rubber ring-spring c, fitted between the disk D (whichholds the brush G by the catches j j) and the curved hinged piece 71 h,forming part of the brush-carrier 0, substantially as and for thepurposes herein set forth and specified.

3. The frame F F, hinged by parallel bent rods L L to the Wall K K, andprovided with the bracket B, dovetailed slide-bars s 8', adjustablebrush-carrier O, and mechanism for actuating the same, viz., the rods 7'r and 1ever R, in combination with the bath-tub '1, substantially as andfor the purposes herein set forth and specified.

4. The parallel bent rod-hinges L L, fitted to eyes 0 e in the wall K K,and the frame F F, for adjusting this frame, with its attachments, tothe bath-tub T, as described, substantially as and for the purposesherein set forth and specified. i

THOMAS D. WOOLSEY. Witnesses:

ALFRED G. CRANE, LIONEL VARICAS.

